Kotak Mahindra Bank has joined hands with Ripple to utilise its product RippleNet to provide impetus to its inward cross-border remittances. The move came just after a month of the bank sending crypto traders threatening notice regarding their dealing with crypto firms in the wake of Central Bank’s potential ban on cryptos.

Friends with cryptocurrencies- Kotak Mahindra Bank partners Ripple

On June 26, Kotak Mahindra Bank came out with its official announcement that it has partnered with Ripple to enhance customer experience and provide impetus to its inward cross-border remittances. It said that it will use Ripple’s settlement solution, xCurrent, to provide its customers with real-time cross-border transactions in a safe and secure manner.

This step is taken as there is significant rise noticed in remittances in India. In 2017-18, India received inward remittances worth USD 69 billion, with the outbound remittances market increasing by 38.7% from USD 8.2 billion in 2016-17 to USD 11.3 billion in 2017-18.

xCurrent will let Kotak reduce the average time associated with remittance payments, to minutes, versus several days, instantly settling cross-border payments and tracking the entire transaction process from end-to-end. The lower fees associated with xCurrent payments also make regular, small inward payments possible at a better rate for Kotak customers.

Deepak Sharma, Chief Digital Officer, Kotak Mahindra Bank said,

“We harness new technologies to simplify and enhance banking services for our customers. xCurrent ticks all the boxes, and enables us to offer our customers a more transparent and efficient global payments service using blockchain. Joining RippleNet also expands our payment network globally by allowing us to connect with other members,”

Kotak clearly embracing a technology that will help it gain an advantage over its competitors and tap the opportunity of Inward Remittance.

Following Reserve Bank of India which gave banks deadline of three months beginning from April 5 to banks to start winding up their businesses with cryptocurrency exchanges in India, Kotak Mahindra Bank was the first one to send out threatening notices to people transacting with Crypto Exchanges. The notice that sighted RBI’s circular on cryptocurrencies had a note that stated

“In this regard, the bank does not encourage its customers using their accounts maintained with us for carrying out transactions involving any kind of crypto/virtual currencies and hence we request you to immediately stop transactions involving dealings in Bitcoin or any kind of crypto/virtual currency from your above-mentioned account”

In this case, it is observed that you have undertaken such transaction post receipt of this letter, you may treat this letter as an advance caution letter and bank will be constrained to close your account without giving any further intimation to you.”

It would be interesting to see Kotak Mahindra approach in attaining a balance between regulation and innovation.

Which side would Kotak Mahindra choose? Do let us know your views on the same

Nilesh Maurya has been associated for past 8 years as an Investment Banker with Omega Capital, a bespoke Investment Banking outfit having offices in Mumbai, New York, Singapore, and Dubai. He has been a regular contributor to business publications such as Business India and Market Express and has been a mentor to many start-up companies. Reach out to him at Nilesh Maurya has been associated for past 8 years as an Investment Banker with Omega Capital, a bespoke Investment Banking outfit having offices in Mumbai, New York, Singapore, and Dubai. He has been a regular contributor to business publications such as Business India and Market Express and has been a mentor to many start-up companies. Reach out to him at [email protected]